Safety-lock for breech-loading guns.



I No. 633,939. Patented Sept. 26. I899.

' J. 'L. ACKERMAN.

SAFETY LUCK FOR BREECH LOADING GUNS.

I (Application filed Dec. 80, 1898.)

(No Model.)

ill?

WITNESSES A TTOH/VEYS.

. UNITED STAT S PATENT @rrrcn.

JASPER LEANDER A CKERMAN, OF MONO), INDIANA.

S AFETY-LOCK F OR BREECH-LOADING GUNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,939, dated September 26, 1899. Application filed December 30. 1898. Serial No. 700.750. (No model) To (1. 111/101- 1'!- nm concern;

Be it known that I, JASPER LEANDER Acn- EiiiLiX, of Monon, in the county of White and State of Iudiana,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Levcr-Locks'for Breech- Loading Guns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of adevice for locking the break-lever of a breech-loading gun, so that it may not. be opened or brokendown by unauthorized persons, and also for locking the safety-slide of a hammer-less gun, so that the position of said slide may not be changed by unauthorized persons. It f requently happens that a breech-loading gun' is opened and cooked and the hammer snapped down by curious meddlers when the gun is not loaded, to the great damage of the firingpins, or that the safety-slide will be innocently changed by such ineddlers without the knowledge of the user of the gun, so as to involve either,on the ne hand,adangerouscondition or, on the other hand, to lock the safety without the knowledge of the user, so that in attempting to use the gun the owner misses his shot by finding too late that his gun was not in an operative condition. This is especially liable to occur in trap-shooting.

My invention is designed to avoid these contingencies, and to that end itconsists in the locking device hereinafter shown and described, with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of

the preferred form of the invention. Fig. 1 1s a similar'view of a modification. Fig. 1

shows the construction of Fig. l slightly modified. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a further modification, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section through line m at of Fig. 2.

-In the drawings, A represents the stock of i the gun. Bis the break-lever for opening the gun, being, as shown, of the form known as the top-snap action." My invention may, however, be applied to other forms of brealo levers: \Vith the lever shown I form a locking-hole l), by drilling or otherwise, in the under-side of the lever and arrange a bolt C in suitable guides to slide transversely in"'the stock in vertical direction. This bolt is operated by a transverse barrel D, arranged to swivel or rotate in hearings in the side of the stock about an axis at right angles to the bolt 0 and having. an. arm 0 that is loosely connected to the bolt to throw it up or down,

according to the direction the barrel is rotated. This barrel preferably has a fiat keyhole slot (1 to receive a key of the Yalelock type, and when the barrel is rotated through its agency the bolt 0 is thrown up into the lever 13, looking it against lateral movement, or down and out of engagement with it, as the case may be. On the other side of the barrel 1) from the arm a there is rigidly fixed to it another arm 0', loosely connected to another vertical locking-bolt a,that is adapted to engage with a hole in the slide F, which is attached to the safety thumbpiece G on the outside. and slide F are the usual devices which lock the triggers safe" or allow them to be open andoperaiive through the agency of a rod and springj" or other suitable devices which it is not necessary to describe. Vith this construction when the barrel 1) is turned in one direction it looks the lever B, so that the gun cannot be opened, and when turned in the other direction it releases the lever B and locks the safety-slide. This safety-slide may be locked either in its safe position for the triggers or in the open and ready position, as may be desired, I

Instead of locking the lever B and safetyslide in an alternate manner they may be locked in a successive or progressive manner by the same movement of the barrelthat is, the bolt C may be thrown a part of its movement to lock the safety-slide, and then by a further movement in the same direction to lock the lever 1;. This form of the device is shown in Fig. 1, in which the barrel is formed with teeth engaging teeth 15 on the bolt C. V ith this form when the bolt C is thrownup justv far enough to pass through the slide F, as in dotted lines, it looks the safety devices, and when thrown the balance ofthe distance, as in full lines, it passes into and locks the lover I as well. v

In Fig. l" the only diliference from Fig. 1 is safety-'slide 1 It will be perceived that I have not shown.

any means for holding and guiding the bolts The thumb-piece G I C and a in Figs. 1 and TI." when said bolts are out of their locked positions. It willbe uu derstood, however, that suitable guides will be provided in practice. As, however, they I are within the province of any mechanic to apply, and would needlessly encumber the views, I have not considered it necessary to show them.

Instead of having the barrel in the side of the stock, I may, as in Figs. 2 and 2, let it extend to the butt, as at cl, using a long rockshaft D in the place of a short barrel. This rock-shaft is inserted in a hole drilled from the buttlongitudinally through the stock, and has on its end a short crank-arm D that connects with the bolt 0 and raises it to'lock or unlock the leverB.

lVith the device as thus described I not only secure the advantages hereinbefore referred to, but when the gun is taken apart and placed in the case byloeking the leverB the gun cannot be put together by any unau- -thorized person, and hence could not be used byanyone not in possession of the key. This makes it safe 'for sportsmen to leave their guns at the club-house or shooting grounds without fear of the same being used or tampered with.

My invention may, repeating shotguns.

if desired, be applied to l Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let- 'ters Patent, is-

1. A lock for the break-lever of breech- I loading guns consisting of a rotary shaft or barrel, and a bolt actuated by the same and adapted to enter a recess in the break-lever substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A look loading guns, consisting of a rotalybarrel arranged transverse] y in the stock and provided with a keyhole and a Vertical bolt adapted to engage-with the break-lever and operated upon by the rotary barrel, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In a breech-loading gun, the combination with a break mechanism and a safety-slide, of a locking device arranged to operate upon both of the same substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

with a break mechanism, and a safety-slide; of a locking device arranged to operate upon thesame alternately substantially as and for the purpose described.

Ina breech-loading with the break-lever and the safety-slide, of

for the break-lever of breechgun, the combination a rotary and intermediate barrel having op- 4. In a breech-loading gun, the combination posit arms, and two vertically-arranged bolts arranged on opposite sides of thenbarrel and connected to its arms and arranged to lock respectively the lever and the slide substantially as shown and described.

JASPER LEANDER ACKERMAN.

Witnessesi R. M. REAGAN, E. SCOTT HUBBELL. 

